A day after stranding 11 baserunners in a 4-2 loss, Oregon erupted for five runs in each of the first two innings to bury Grand Canyon 16-6 Wednesday, running their season record to 15-3 ahead of a weekend series with Minnesota.
Jeffery Heard, Dominic Hellman, and Jacob Walsh paced a 16-hit attack with three hits apiece. Heard drove in four runs, while Hellman, the 6-6, 250-pound designated hitter, belted his seventh home run of the year.
Santiago Garcia earned the win with two innings of scoreless relief. The game ended in the 8th inning on the 10-run rule.
Ranked 9th in the country after a sweep of USC last weekend, the Ducks had won 11 in a row before Tuesday's loss. They're alone in first place in the Big Ten at 3-0. The three-game series with the Gophers opens with Friday game at PK Park at 4:00 p.m. Pacific.